Autodesk Prodsmart defines a product as being a series of operations through which a raw material goes.
Before defining the operations that constitute the product you must create the product’s reference firstly.
Learn how to create them one by one with the following steps, or check the article on how to Import more than one at once, here:
1. Go to Products menu
From the Main panel, access the Products menu by clicking ‘Products’ in the sidebar.
2. Add a new product
In the Products panel click ‘+Add Product’.
3. Fill all the information about your new product
To create a new product in the form, insert the ‘Code’ – the unique product identifier – and the ‘Name’ – which purpose is to easily identify any given product.
As an example, let’s create a product. The ‘Code’ for our product is ‘T-shirt’ and the ‘Name’ is ‘Cotton T-shirt’.
Even though ‘Code’ and ‘Name’ are the only two required fields when creating a new product, you can personalize your product by filling the other existing fields:
‘Observations’: Fill in if you want to add comments to your product.
‘Families’: Grouping your products by ‘Families’ is a good way to have your products’ setup organized. You can create new ‘Product Families’ here or by selecting the ‘Product’ tab, and the ‘Product Families’ sub-tab, clicking ‘+Add Product Family’ and choosing a ‘Code’ and ‘Name’ for your new product family. For our example, let’s say the families are ‘Clothes’ and ‘Tops, T-shirts and Blouses’.
‘Variable Parameters’: If there are variations to your product, like color and size, you should add those here. In our example, the parameters will be ‘Color’ and ‘Size’. You may also find relevant to create different product codes for a more accurate control of your inventory. Check more details on the article ‘Products with Parameters’.
‘Lead Time (days)’: for raw materials this value represents the estimated time to receive a product following its purchase. For produced goods/subassemblies it represents the production time for the product. If not specified, the value is set to 15.
‘Box quantity’: fill this field in case your product is packed in a box - this information will appear in the header sheet of the production order. Check in the image below the information you’ll be shown in the production order header sheet, if it contains 100 units of ‘T-shirts’ and the ‘Box Quantity’ for this product is 20:
‘Material Receiving checklist’: This is the place where you can add a checklist to show up when receiving the product. It is commonly used for receiving quality control. Learn how to create a checklist here.
‘Color’: If your product has a color, this is where you should define it. Learn more about it in this article.
‘Shipping Package Types’: When you are shipping your product, do you put it on a pallet or on a box? Then, add a ‘Shipping Package Type’ here.
‘Minimum stock’: When inventory level goes under this value, the system suggests you to create a Purchase Order for the product on the Material Requirements Planning feature. This attribute can also be used to trigger minimum stock alert emails.
‘Maximum stock’: Value used to the quantity suggested on Production or Purchase Order for the product - suggestion will consider the quantity needed to reach this value.
‘Minimum quantity to reorder’: When a new purchase order or production order is placed via the Material Requirement Planning feature, this is the minimum amount to purchase/produce.
‘Quantity multiple’: When a new purchase order or production order is created via the Material Requirement Planning feature, its quantity must be a multiple of this value.
‘Scrap allowance’: Increases production order quantity to consider this value; it is considered when creating production orders from sales orders and in BoM.
'Shelf Life': Sets an automatic expiration date (considering the number of days input in this field) on lots received or produced with this product.
You can also associate your products to a specific Supplier(s) in the Suppliers tab, learn how to here.
4. Save
After having completed the above form’s required fields, ‘Code’ and ‘Name’, and the other ones you wish to fill, click ‘Save and continue editing’ or ‘ Save and add another’.
More Actions: How to Disable, Activate and Duplicate products
It is possible to disable or duplicate your product after it is created.
Disable and activate a product
To disable your product, first edit your product then go to the bottom of the page and select 'More actions'. Now click 'Disable product'.
After disabling a product it will not appear in the normal list of products. To find the disabled products use the table filters in the Products menu.
If you want to Enable the product do the reverse process. Find the product and edit it, then go to 'More actions' and select 'Activate product'.
Duplicate a product
When duplicating a product, a pop-up window will appear to insert the new code and name of the duplicated product. This new duplicated product is an exact copy of the original in terms of operations, family, etc. except for the code.
Congratulations! You have created your new product!
Now that you have already learned how to create a product in Autodesk Prodsmart, it’s time to learn how to define its Unit of Measurement and how to add operations to it.
If you still don’t feel confident about Products and Products creation, feel free to reach out to us through our live-chat feature, or directly to your CSM.
Need help? Request a Prodsmart expert to contact you here.